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Neritic tuna are important component of the tuna fisheries of Pakistan It is estimated that neritic tuna alone have a share of about 43.28 % in the total landings of tuna in 2020. Of the five species of neritic tuna, longtail tuna (Thunnus tonggol) contributes 3, 320m, tons in 2020 and 3,242 m. tons in 2019 as compared to 11,985 m. tons in 2018. Landings of frigate tuna (Auxis thazard thazard) during 2020 was recorded to be 6,759 m. tons whereas it was 7,619 m. tons in 2019 and 10,986 m. tons in 2018. Kawakawa (Euthynnus affinis) landings in 2020 was 1,310 m. tons whereas it was 1,236 m. tons in 2019 and 4,123 m. tons in 2018. Other two species i.e. bullet tuna (Auxis rochei) and striped bonito (Sarda orientalis) contributed insignificantly in the total tuna landings of Pakistan.
Landings of neritic tuna were observed to have decreased in 2020 by 6.22 % as compared to 2019. This decrease in landings is attributed to many factors including early closure of the fishing season in early April 2020 and its continuation till late August 2019 because of low catches and fluctuating low prices of tuna in the market as well as annual close season (June and July).
CPUE of neritic tuna indicated that longtail tuna and kawakawa have higher catch rate during September and December whereas frigate tuna has higher CPUE during January and May. This disparity is mainly because of area of operation of tuna gillnetters which were observed to be fishing on continental shelf area during August and December. High CPUE of frigate tuna is because of contribution of artisanal fishing vessels that operate in coastal waters.
